Method of enhancing the growth of plants



C. F. ECKART.

METHOD OF ENHANCING THE GROWTH OF PLANTS. APPLICATION FILED MAR.26, 1921.

1 377 566. Patented May 10, 119219 CHARLES r, ECKART, or HONOLULU, TERRITORY or HAWAII.

' METHOD OF ENHANCING THE GROWTH OF PLANTS.

I Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 10, 1921.

Continuation of application Serial No. 325,721, filed September 23, 1919. This application filed March 26, 1921. Serial No. 455,869.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES F. ECKART, a cltizen of the United States, residing in the city of Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of Enhancing the Growth of Plants; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This application relates to a method of enhancing the growth of plants and is a continuation of my previous application, Ser. No. 325,721, filed September 23, 1919.

In agricultural practice a considerable amount of money and labor is expended, shortly after the planting operation, in the care-taking of young cultivated plants. It is the general practice to plant the seeds, bulbs, or other plant stock and, after the plants appear therefrom, to destroy the weeds by the use of a soil turning implement.

Where plants are arranged in rows it is possible to use a horse-drawn implement to destroy the Weeds between the rows, but it is necessary to destroy the weeds adjacent to the plants by the use of a hoe or similar implement. This latter operation must, of course, be carried out by hand and is, therefore, relatively-expensive and requires considerable time. Furthermore, it is impossible to destroy the weeds adjacent to the .plants without disturbing the plants themselves and this disturbance of the plant roots is reflected in the ultimate growth of the I lants by a reduction in the output thereof.

n the other hand, if the weeds are undisturbed they compete with the young plants and rob the latter of food and molsture so that the result is even more disastrous than where the roots of the plants are disturbed during the destruction of the weeds. The ideal condition is, of course, the one where the plants are permitted to attain their initial growth unhampered by the presence of weeds and to continue their growth still unhampered, and where the moisture of the soil and the fertilizer is preserved for the use of the lants.

the moisture and the fertilizer for thev use.

T e present invention aims to destroy or ing of the plants, the former by preventing evaporatlon and the latter by preventing leaching. It also creates favorable temperature conditions in the soil by absorbing and transmltting solar heat to the soil.

In the following description I will illustrate my method as being applied to the treatment of plants which are arranged in rows, but it is to be understood that the practice of the method is not confined to the treatment of rows of plants, but is broadly to the treatment of plants irrespective of the manner in which they are planted, or their arrangement with relation to each other. i

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a fragmental view illustrating the first step of the method,

Fig. 2 is a fragmental View illustrating the second step of the method;

F1 3 is a fragmental View illustrating the t ird step of the method; and

Figs. 4, 5, 6, 7 8, 9 and 10 are fragmental views illustrating other manners in which the method may be carried out.

In the practice of the method, forming the subject matter of this invention, assuming that the plants are to be set in rows, the proposed lines of the rows are preferably watered, and, if desired, fertilizer is applied thereto. After the water, or the water and the fertilizer, are applied, the proposed lines tribute the stored heat, by radiation and",

convection, into the subjaoent soil. This application of the mulch takes placeloefo'rev any of the plant seeds, bulbs, or other plant stockaresetoutu In general practice it is preferable to allow an intervalof time to elapse between the laying of the mulch and the setting out of the plant stock, which in some cases may be as much as four or five weeks or more, so that the weed seeds and bulbsin the covered soil will germinate and theresultdestroyed-,gf The soil condition which prevails weeds be smothered and consequently beneath the coverings or mulches enhances or hastens the germination of the weed seeds or bulbs due to the presence of moisture and to the storing up of the solar heatby the opaque mulches described. It will be understood, of course, that in the practical application of this process, the interval between the laying of the mulch and the setting out of the plant stock will vary with the nature of the crop, the climatic conditions, the nature of the weeds, and the economic requirements with respect to the elimination or reduction of the particular weeds concerned; and in some cases no ma-. terial interval of time need be allowed to elapse, since substantial advantages result from the use of my invention in the way of heat and moisture regulation as wel as weed eradication, if the planting is done immediately after the mulch is laid on the ound.

After the mulch has been applied, and, if desired, a sufiicient period has elapsed to insure the growth and subsequent destruction of the weeds, or at least those which would otherwise require to be eradicated by conventional cultural methods, openings are produced in the mulches or coverings 1 at the planting centers. These openings may be produced by slitting the mulches under the cross intersecting lines 2-3 and 4-43 and by bending back the flaps 6, 7, 8 and 9, thus produced, in the manner illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3, the bending operation taking place along the dotted lines indicated in Fig. 2. The slitting of the mulches and the bending back of the flaps results in. the exposure of a planting area 10. If the flaps are bent perpendicular to the plane of the mulch the maximum planting area will be exposed, but this area may be reduced as the conditions require by bending the flaps only partly tothe perpendicular, positlon, in. which event they will occupy the positions illustrated in Fig. 4.. It is perfectly obvious that when the flaps are bent into the position illustrated in Fig. 3, the planting area will be exposed to the sun and wind to 'a greater extent than where the flapsare bent into the position illustrated in i'g. 4:. 'When the planting areas are thus exposed, the plant seeds, bulbs, or other plant stock are the n" set in'the planting areas, the body of the mulch remaining in place. The resulting plants will thus. grow unhampered by weeds and undisturbed-by cultivating. The moisture which is retained, in the soil by the mulches will enhance the growth "of the plants and the fertilizer, if fertilizer be used, or the natural foods of the soil Will be accessible to and. preserved for the plants. As the flaps may lie almost prone :or be bent into various positions they will permit the controlling of the growth of the duces flaps plants to a nicety that the "evaporation of the moisture'ifr'om the planting areasv may be controlled, the access of the winds to the planting areas may be controlled, and, as the flaps' are ,formed of heat absorbing material, the temperature of the planting area is maintained relatively even. Furthermore, the flaps will shed a considerable amount of rain and consequently will prevent the over-saturation of the soil in the planting areas.

By suitably adjusting the angular rela-- tion of the flaps to the body of the mulch any] desirable degree of protection may be rendered the surface of the planting areas against the lodgment of extraneous weed seeds; at such. times when weeds in the vicinity are flowering and seeding, this consideration be- In exceptionally weedy localities, or

comes one of the most important factors indetermining the regulation of the flaps, which, for the maximum protection afforded, may be permitted to he practically flat on the surface of the ground, except where the flexible extremities are slightly elevated by the growing plant.

The mulches or coverings to produce and store nitrates. As has been previously stated, the mulches are preferably applied tothe ground after the latteris watered or is wet by rain. This moisture also function.

of the soil in conjunction with the raised temperature of the soil, due to the nature of the covering, will stimulate the activities of the micro-organisms which are responsible for the production of nitrates. Owing'to the superimposed coverings or mulches the nitrates so produced cannot be leached from the soil by the subsequent rains.- The planting areas may be produced in various other manners than that already described, but for the purpose of illustration I have shown two' additional methods, vonebeing illustrated in Figs. 5,, 6 and 7 and the other in Figs. 8, 9 and 10. The mulch 1 in the formerserles of figures is slit along the lines 11 -12 and 13-44 and the'slits thus produced are joined by an intersectin slit 15 which pro- 16 and 17 hese flaps may be bent along the dotted lines 18 into the position illustrated in Fig. 6 where they'ex ose the entire plantin area, or they may be ent as illustrated-in ig. 7 where only. a portion to exposetheentire planting area 'oronly part of the area as illustrated in Figs. '9

and 10;

While the formation and adjustment of the flaps in themanneg shownlin-sthedraw- 1ngs,,1s n man casesadvantageous, it will be understood t at thisis not at allessential.

Trrespective of the form of the slits which are made in the mulches and the form of the planting area, the evaporation of the moisture, the access of the winds to the planting area, the shedding of the rains and the storing of the solar heat are advantageously controlled and the growth of the plants will be enhanced, and the weeds checked, suppressed or eradicated. Best results will, however, be obtained when slits are made in substantially the form indicated. From the nature and functions of the covering material good results will be obtained without leaving any appreciable interval of time between the laylng of the mulch and the setting out of the plant stock. Optimum results, however, in general practice will follow a preliminary elimination of the weeds in accordance with the preferred method of applying the invention.

The terms fplant stock and plant producing stock, which I employ with reference to my invention, are used in the broadest sense and are intended to apply to all planting material of whatever kind or nature. Each of these terms applies, therefore, to seeds, bulbs, cuttings, slips, seedlings, small plants and any other plant substance which can sprout, develop. or grow after it is set out or planted in the soil.

What I claim is: i

1. The method of enhancing the growth of plants which comprises superimposing on the ground a flexible coverin of opa no heat absorbin material adapte to dlSlBI'lbc ute the absor ed heat to the soil planting the plant producing stock through the covering, and maintaining the covering in place durin the growth of the plants.

2. he method of enhancing the growth of plants which comprises superimposing on the ground a flexible covering of opa ue heat absorbin material adapted to distributethe absor ed heat to the soil, forming.

openings in the covering, planting the plant producing stock in the areas exposed by said openings, and maintaining the covering in place during the growth of the plants.

7 3. The method of enhancin the growth: of plants which comprises treeing from weeds the soil areas wh ch are to receive the plant producing stock by means of a superimposed flexible covering of heat absorbing material, and planting said stock through the covering in the said weed freed areas.

4. The method'of enhancing the growth of plants which comprises superimposing a flexible covering on the gnound, slitting the covering to form a flap, bending the flap with relation to the covering to produce an exposed planting area, and lanting the plant producing stock in said p anting area.

5. The method of enhancing the growth of plants which comprises superimposing a covering on the ground, slitting the covering to'form flaps, bending the flaps with relation to the covering to produce an exposed planting area and to aflord a changeable rotecting medium for the young plants, an planting the plant producing stock in said planting area.

6. The method of enhancing the growth of plants which comprises superimposing a coverin on the ground until the weed seeds and bul s are germinated and exterminated, slitting the covering to form flaps, bending the flaps with relation to the covering to produce an exposed planting area and to afford a changeable'protectin medium tor 

